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Author Interview: Claudia Gray

We are so thrilled to host author Claudia Gray today! Claudia is here to talk about her new series, Spellcaster, with the latest release, Steadfast, out 3/4/14. 1. What inspired you to write the Spellcaster series?

Basically, as much as I loved Harry Potter, I always wondered what the books would've been like if Hermione were the hero. Although Nadia didn't wind up being that much like Hermione, they're both very bright, very competent, a little prideful, a little bossy, but determined to do the right thing. (And heaven help you if you get in her way.) I've written, read and enjoyed books in which the protagonist has just discovered the supernatural world and some raw power she has that plays a role in it. But in the SPELLCASTER trilogy I wanted to create a heroine who understood her role in the supernatural and had worked hard for all the power she possesses.

2. The Evernight books were some of my favorite in the YA vampire genre. Did you feel as though you were stepping out of your comfort zone to write a series about witchcraft?

As much as I love vampires -- no, it didn't feel like less comfortable or natural to write about witches. I've always been interested in pretty much anything paranormal, so I've been soaking up witchcraft legend and lore just about as long as I've been reading about vampires. Basically, if it's a fantasy element that makes events that much scarier and more fascinating? I like that.

3. Are you a reader? If so, what are some of your favorite genres?

Of course I'm a reader! Honestly, it would be easier to say what genres I don't read (westerns, hard SF). I'm always reading -- usually more than one book at time -- and the books can be YA paranormal, YA contemporary, women's fiction, literary, science fantasy, biographies, histories, mysteries, you name it. Although I don't know that I can choose one absolute favorite, I can say that while I'm writing, I tend to read more nonfiction; it keeps me more fully immersed in my own novel. So the past few years, I've been reading a lot of histories, particularly of the Roman Empire and Victorian England.

4. What's next for you?

Next is my fall book, the beginning of the FIREBIRD trilogy -- my first science fiction! A THOUSAND PIECES OF YOU is about Marguerite, the daughter of two famous scientists, who is chasing her father's killer through multiple dimensions. Each time, she appears in another version of herself and has to figure out this new world and what her life is like there. Some of the worlds aren't much changed from her own, but some of them are radically different - like the one where she lives in a futuristic London, or the one that takes place in a Russia where the czars never fell from power. She also encounters other versions of the people she knows best, like her parents, her sister, the guy on this journey with her, and even the man she's hunting. As she does so -- and comes to understand all the different people they (and she) have the potential to be, Marguerite begins to realize the truth about what happened to her father is more complex and sinister than she'd ever dreamed.